


Impossible choice

by ClaraCivry (Kat_Of_Dresden)



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Danny being broken up, Emotionally hurt Danny Willliams, Guns, Held at Gunpoint, Hurt Steve McGarrett, Pick who dies, Sadness, Steve being a good dude, Tears
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:07:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26781133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kat_Of_Dresden/pseuds/ClaraCivry
Summary: He's taken them both. Grace and Steve."Pick who dies, or they are both dead."Steve is already resigned. Danny can't take this.Some Hawaii angst for whumptoberrrr
Relationships: Steve McGarrett & Danny "Danno" Williams
Comments: 5
Kudos: 68
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Impossible choice

Steve was coughing, Steve was bleeding.

Grace had been taken, again.

Danny was having a really bad day.

*

Danny really wanted to punch whoever gave parole so freely to everyone he'd put away. Those people should be behind bars until he died, or at least was very old. If they were free while Grace was still a teenager then it meant that something in the system was still very very wrong.

Why were guys that had been trafficking, that were suspects of murders out in the streets already? Because he'd put that guy in prison maybe five years ago, seven tops, and now... Now he was there, haunting him, and making every day a constant nightmare of paranoia, cryptic messages and near misses.

He had his windhsield smashed, there had been a small fire in bedroom, Grace had been followed by "someone scary". Danny was on edge, knowing that sooner rather than later this guy was going to get past protective custody, SWAT and everyone else. And whatever he was going to do, it wasn't simply going to be killing Danny. Two bullets to the chest, end of story, no. It was going to be something that hurt, that hurt very much, that hurt especially.

He hadn't imagined it would be this bad, though. Never this bad.

Danny had been taken to a warehouse, where Grace was supposedly been held, to try and get her back. And he found him. Devereaux. Older, more broken, more angry.

He had a gun that was pointing at Danny, but not just that, oh no.

In front of them, chained to a wall was Gracie, tears in her eyes and dirty bare feet.

"Danno!"

There was also an armed guard ponting a gun to her head, with an unfriendly expression.

"Monkey, I'm here, all right? I will fix this, don't worry."

And on the other side, next the guard.... Fuck.

"Steve! Steve, hey, can you hear me? Steve?"

Steve was also chained to the wall, but unlike Grace, he'd been beaten up. Badly. Probably had put up a good fight before been taken and was now bleeding. He was bleeding a lot. There was blooding coming out of his mouth, his face was a mess of gashes and bruises, dried and fresh blood. On top of that, Danny was quite sure that legs weren't supposed to bend like that, and... were those hand prints on his neck?

"STEVE!"

Steve wasn't answering, and Danny had a very bad feeling. There was another guard with a gun pointed at his partner. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

"He tried to get out, but they hurt him." Grace said. "You have to help him, Danno, he's very badly hurt."

He did. He had to help both of them, but they had disarmed him in the entrance and this guy had guns pointed in everyone's head. Tricky shit.

"Listen, Devereaux, I..."

"No, no, no, detective Williams, you will not talk me into anything. You will play by my rules, or little Grace and valiant Steve will die in seconds and then I'll move on to your other kid, your mother, any member of your family that's still alive, anyone you've ever cared for."

"And what are your rules?"

"Here's the game, Detective Williams. You have your daughter, young light of your life and child with so much potential, and you have your partner, who's saved your life countless times and given you a new family. And well, the rules are simple: you pick who dies in nine minutes or they are both dead."

"What?"

"You heard me, Danno. You chose one to die and I'll let the other live. You don't choose anyone, they die. You try and disarm me, they die. You do any trick, and they both die. But if you pick one, then I'll let the other live. For now, at least. Maybe give you time to try and stop me some more."

No. No, no, no, no, no!

"Tick tock, detective. Eight minutes and twenty seconds."

There had to be a way. There had to. No one was going to die because he had practically ordered it, that was impossible. But what choice did he have? He only had eight minutes, and Devereaux had made it very clear that if he made any sudden movements they would both be dead.

His first thought was that he had to save Grace, of course... But he couldn't do that to Steve!

Steve had always been there for him, Steve had put his own life in danger to save Danny's, he had been there to listen to all his complaining, Steve had given him a chance to be part of the island, to find a family, to make a difference. Thanks to Steve his life had been more exciting and fulfilling than he could ever imagine, thanks to Dteve he had never been alone in that rock, even when Grace was away.

Steve was a kind hearted person, who was always always there for his friend, who didn't flinch putting himself in the place of a hostage if needed, who always listened to you and tried to take your side. He knew Danny like no other, and he knew helped him through hard times, sought him out when he was distraught.

He couldn't tell this man to kill him, no, it would be so wrong... The idea of letting Gracie die was totally unthinkable but Steve...

If he told Devereaux to go against him the last thing Steve would remember was him, his partner, ordering his death. That was not fair, not after all that Steve had been through.

Everyone had lied to Steve at some point or other, everyone had hidden important things, everyone had kept him in the dark, betrayed him. His mom and dad, Joe, Jenna, Catherine and so many other people. Too many to count.

But he'd been there for Steve, every time, and when the world turned against him he always knew that he had Danny. Through thick and thin, for better or worse, no matter what. He'd always had Steve and now... Now Steve's last memory could be of him practically ordering his execution.

Danny's voice was a bit desperate and broken as he spoke.

"... there has to be another way... I'll... I'll work for you, I'll get you money...please...."

A pair of tired hazel-green eyes looked at him, resigned.

"S okay, Danny... I... I un-derstand...."

"NO!" Grace screamed next to Steve, and fought her chains "Danno, you can't let them hurt uncle Steve anymore! You can't do that!"

He definitely didn't want to...

"Four minutes, detective, or it'll be both of them."

Danny was sobbing. Grace was screaming, asking to be let out, asking the bad guys to leave her uncle alone, and Steve....

"... you can do it, Da- Danny." HIs voice was almost small, calm, peaceful. "I had a good run."

"Steve..."

"I'll still love you, ok? And I understand. You save Grace now, and... and then you get this, all right? Just... shoot 'im an extra couple times. For me."

"Steve, I can't do that..."

"You can, just... remember. 'S not your fault. It's on this guy, not on you."

"Two minutes, detective."

Fuck. FUCK! He only had two minutes and he hadn't come up with anything and the guns were still in Grace's and Steve's heads and...

"I can get your record clean! I can get you five million! A house on the Bahamas! Whatever, just give me time, all right? I'm sorry, please don't make me do this..."

"One minute, detective."

He looked at Steve with tears in his eyes, and saw a tired but honest smile in his partner's eyes, a nod that said "it's fine, it's okay".

"Steve..."

"Forty-five seconds"

"I love you"

"Thirty seconds"

"Me too."

"Twenty seconds...."

Danny's tears kept flowing. He couldn't believe what he was about to do.

"Ten, nine, eight..."

"All right, stop! Steve, Steve dies, Grace lives, all right?"

Devereaux smiled.

"You heard the man. No head-shots, though. Give a couple of nice gut wounds, so that dear Danno and lovely Gracie have to watch him die, bled out, painfully and slowly."

The guard smiled, and shot, making Steve scream in pain as red bloomed on his stomach. But just as the guard was shooting Steve, there was a commotion, noises of other people.

"Five O! Drop your weapons!"

Chin, Kono, Lou, HPD. Finally.

Devereaux was shot, and only one of his guard survived, after surrendering completely.

Danny went to Grace, hugged her "it's okay, Monkey, it'll be okay now", but she had other ideas "I can stay with Kono, go to uncle Steve!"

And that's what Danny did.

Steve was laying on his side, bleeding badly, eyes only half open. Danny took off his shirt and pressed it against the wound, strong.

"I NEED AN AMBULANCE NOW! TELL THEM TO HURRY THE HELL UP!"

Steve's eyes were about to close. He'd lost too much blood while Devereaux and his men were taken down and he was pale as a ghost, barely conscious.

"Steve, babe, hey, you gotta hang on, all right?"

"....h'rts..."

"I know, buddy, and I'm so sorry, so so so sorry... I just..."

"...had no ch'ice... is okay...I still... love you..."

"Hey, Steve, no, all right! Come on, babe, you keep those eyes open for me, all right?"

But Steve's big striking eyes were closing, and the realisation that maybe they wouldn't open again hurt Danny like nothing else.

*

Danny knew it wasn't his fault.

He knew there had been no other choice, he knew Steve had been okay, he knew he didn't blame him, and hey, he had survived! Paramedics got there in time, and although it was a very close call, after five hours of surgery Steve was now stable and expected to make a full reovery.

And still, Danny was crying, couldn't stop sobbing as he waited for a reaction on Steve's bedside. He'd nearly got his best friend killed. Steve, someone who had done so much for him.. He'd nearly died, because Danny had said so. "Steve dies" he'd said. "Steve dies" with his voice, his own words.

"...s'tp crying." Steve said. ".. .You're hurting my ears."

Danny did stop, shocked.

"Steve?"

"In the flesh and wound." He smiled. Of course he would.

"Steve, I'm so incredibly sorry, I..."

"There's nothing to forgive, Danny. I said it and I'll say it as many times as needed. Is not on you."

"I know but...."

"It's on that idiot and you know I wouldn't have been able to forgive anyone if you chose differently anyway. Stop apologizing..."

Danny smiled, took Steve's hand, ran his thumb through his partner's hand, tried to stop crying and failed.

"S okay. It is. I just got a cool new scar for my collection. I'm almost grateful. How's Grace?"

"Demanding to see you every two seconds and quite shaken up, but otherwise fine."

"Good. And how are you?"

"I'll be better."

"That bastard is gone. We're all alive. This is a happy ending."

"It almost wasn't."

"Almosts are stupid, and useless. You made the right choice... and I still love you."

"I love you too, you idiot."

Yes, this had had a happy ending...

But Danny was still going to have a little chat with the parole guys.

A chat or seven.

Because this happy end was almost a tragedy, and he almost lost one of the most important people in his life.

And that could not be allowed.

Not ever again.

Not even almost.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed, please do tell me!
> 
> You know you want to comment ;)


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